


bye, bye to all of the noise

by murdork



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode Tag, Gen, M/M, Season 3 Episode 5: The Great Escape, Unfulfilling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-24 00:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16629053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdork/pseuds/murdork
Summary: It seems that wherever Kevin is, Joaquin will always be destined to be running away from him.





	bye, bye to all of the noise

**Author's Note:**

> HI so this is very rushed i wrote it in an hour but i just had to get this out. joaquin and kevin are my NUMBER ONE BOYS and this ep.. was so horrible. 
> 
> i didnt rly touch on it but i have a huge feeling joaquin is gonna end up being a big part of the gargoyle king’s ploy. 
> 
> title from patrick watson’s “the great escape” (uncreative, i know)

The minute the prison disappears behind the trees, Joaquin takes a moment for himself and throws up. Then, arms shaking from their place on his knees, he pushes himself up and starts to run again. He can barely breathe through the pain in his chest— both from exertion and guilt— but he pushes on. 

The warden promised him ascension, and even if that had meant being pushed out of the gates of L&L, blood still drying on his hands, Joaquin won’t take it for granted. He thinks of Archie— no doubt bleeding out on the scummy bottom of that wretched pool— and feels sickness rise in his throat again. He’s done some terrible things as a Serpent, but this far surpasses anything he might have done under FP. 

After the first attempt at escape he’d been returned to his cell with the sting of rubber bullets still lingering, and been given a choice. “Ascension,” the warden swore, “freedom.” All in exchange for something he’d done countless times in back alleys and dimly-lit dives. 

Just never to someone he cared about. (And that’s sort of pushing it; Archie isn’t anywhere near his heart, but still. He was loyal, and brave— far braver than Joaquin— and had promised to come back for him, no matter what.)

And in return Joaquin had stabbed him. He stops again at that, heaving against the panic in his throat. His vision is a little blurry, and he doesn’t even know where he’s supposed to be going. The guards, the same ones who had pelted him and Archie with bullets, weren’t very talkative as they shoved him beyond the barbed wire. Nevertheless, he carries on through the bush, ignoring his loosening shoe laces and the ever-growing stitch in his side. He deserves the pain, really. His guilt is the only truly human part of him left. 

There’s a gap in the trees up ahead of him, and Joaquin paradoxically wishes for two options: one, a road with a sign that only speaks of the next town— no mention of Riverdale or two, the warden’s men, ready to take him back to where he so clearly belongs. He wouldn’t even fight it, he thinks. 

But he can’t. His entire body drags him forwards rather than back; the inertia of selfish panic keeping him going. He made a deal, a stupid one, and now he has to live with it. No matter what happens. 

The trees break up around him, basking him in sunlight and exposure. Fear increases tenfold at the idea of being spotted and he picks up his speed— 

“Joaquin,” a voice breaks out, and the forgotten shoelaces catch up to him. He almost goes down hard but sticks a hand out in the last moment. The gravel imbeds itself to the immediate scrape but Joaquin can’t regret catching himself; he’s spent far too much time being knocked to the ground lately. 

His stomach obviously didn’t get the memo because as he brings his eyes up to meet the voice he can so clearly recognize, it drops. Kevin, dressed in navy, staring at him with incredulity. 

“Kevin. What are you doing here?” He says, breathless. A lump has suddenly swollen in his throat, making his heart beat even faster than before. There’s no way to truly describe how Kevin looks to him. The uniform he has on is uninspiring but highlights how broad he’s gotten since the last time Joaquin saw him two years ago. His expressions are still the same it seems, his suprise no doubt a mirror of Joaquin’s own. 

“We’re breaking Archie out—“ he says it so matter-of-fact, like of course he’s risking his life, his freedom, for his friend, how could Joaquin think differently, that guilt floods his veins and makes his head spin again. “— what are you doing here?” 

Joaquin sees the way Kevin looks at his sweats, the obvious grease in his hair, the shaky breaths— they, and his obvious proximity to the prison, all point to one thing— but still can’t speak the truth. 

“It— it doesn’t matter. And, it’s too late for Archie,” he spits it out, hating that he can say that with utmost certainty. He wonders how Kevin would feel knowing that he’s the reason one of his closest friends is dead. He looks away, not being able to bear the weight of Kevin’s ever-deepening confusion. He knows he has to keep running but the sight of Kevin, after all this time, keeps his feet firmly rooted. 

“Where are you going? Back to the Serpents?” 

If Joaquin’s sense of humour hadn’t been beat out of him by countless guards and inmates, he would have snorted. No, not to the Serpents. He knows the minute FP’s kid, and FP himself, found out about what he’d done to Archie, he’d be strung up and left to rot. They’re snakes, not traitors. 

Besides, he’d made his deal. “No. No, nono— I joined another gang.” 

For the amount of time they both don’t have, Kevin seems quite content to keep wasting it on questions. The grate he’d been working on lies forgotten under his hands. “Who?” 

Frustration builds in Joaquin. There’s no way in hell he’s letting Kevin know what he’s done; he’ll find out later. Joaquin can’t let anyone else get hurt because of him, especially not Kevin. He did it once, he won’t do it again. 

“You don’t want to know—“ they both know that’s not true, but he won’t let that particular cage be unlocked. “Look, Kev, you’ve got to get out of here. Right now.” He tries to put enough force behind his words that Kevin will listen, will understand that he has to run— they both do— or he’ll be screwed. 

He shudders to think of what the warden would do to Kevin; despite his father being sheriff, no one crosses the authority in L&L. He wouldn’t last long in a physical fight at all— if he even made it through the first night without being sent to the infirmary for an offhand comment. 

“Wait—“

“Go.” 

“Wa—“ 

“Go.” Joaquin can’t take it anymore. He turns to leave. There’s no way he can handle looking back to Kevin, seeing his wide eyes. He’d confess it all right there; apologizing until the warden’s men came to haul them both back to prison. 

Back to prison, where Kevin would be locked up and learn of the way Joaquin had just left Archie for dead. Back to prison where Joaquin would no doubt share the same fate as Archie, bleeding out on tile. Back to prison where he’d get what he deserved— what he’s so desperately trying to avoid— and Kevin would suffer for it, too. 

He can’t do that to him. He’s done enough already. If abandoning him once for San Junipero was bad, this would be far worse. It’s so much better to run away from Kevin and his questions and leave the consequences solely for himself. 

So he turns on his heel and runs. At this point he doesn’t care if they catch him as long as they leave Kevin alone. He’s been witness to and perpetrator of so many horrible things, he won’t— can’t— let Kevin join the list. 

Joaquin will get what’s coming to him, he knows this as he resumes a spring. He thinks he can hear some sort of engine rumbling in the distance, but he can’t tell if it’s one of the prison’s vehicles. A motorcycle, maybe. He pushes on, letting guilt propel him forward. He doesn’t dare look back over his shoulder for one last glimpse. Doesn’t dare see if Kevin followed him— and it would be just like him to not give up when Joaquin got quiet— because at the end of the day he knows he isn’t. Wherever Kevin is, whether it be at a bus stop or loosening a grate or running after him, Joaquin will always be destined to be running away from him.

**Author's Note:**

> there’s a lot more i want to cover/talk about so i might 1) add another chapter (possibly kevin’s pov?) 2) post some new stuff too... i desperately wanna write some canon divergence where kevin follows joaquin... 
> 
> anyways! im on twitter @tradrjoes... please hmu on there i LOVE crying abt joavin


End file.
